On a high, the battle-weary troops headed for the San Siro and the showdown with AC Milan. There was an
unconfirmed rumour that Barcelona
had offered Milan a £1.6 bonus if
they could beat United and give themselves a chance of qualifying if they could
beat Besiktas at the Nou
Camp. They must have winced when AndriyShevchenko missed from the spot and choked on their Paella
when Dominic Matteo headed in a Lee Bowyer corner to
give United the lead just on half time. It certainly silenced the 52,000 crowd
and the Pizza, Lasagne and Chianti sales dipped remarkably as they sat through
the half-time break in stunned disbelief! AC Milan equalised on sixty-eight
minutes but resolute defence saw no change to the score-line and, although
Barcelona won 5-0, it was of no consequence and United and AC Milan progressed
to the next round at their expense. Real Madrid,
Anderlecht and Lazio awaited
them in Stage 2. Another Group of Death, with United
again outsiders and praying for the return of their absent stars.

Leeds United marched into the second phase of
the ECL with a resolute, focused and wholly determined performance against
Italian aces AC Milan at the San Siro Stadium. United
skipper Lucas Radebe made a timely return and had to
be partnered by Danny Mills in central defence after
Jonathan Woodgate failed a late fitness test on his
damaged thigh muscle. With both Lucas Radebe and
Danny Mills short on match practice they needed to be at their best in the face
if quality strikers such as Oliver Bierhoff and AndriyShevchenko. The odds were
stacked against Leeds.Milanhad never been beaten by an English team in European competition, with a
record of six wins and four draws. They had scored in every European game at
the San Siro since 1993. Leedshad never won in Italyin six attempts and had only scored in one of
those games, against Juventus in the Fairs Cup Final
thirty years previous. The odds were indeed heavily stacked against them in
what was their biggest game in twenty five years.

The Milanpitch was hardly in keeping with its mythical standing as one of the
world’s greatest stadiums, it was an absolute disgrace, with bare patches,
divots and ruts abounding but United had brought 6,000 fans with them and they
were well in evidence as the teams took to the field. Lee Bowyer was clearly up
for the challenge as he shouted words of encouragement to his teammates as
Olivier Dacourt kicked off. Danny Mills got an early
testing by AndriyShevchenko
but he remained cool and ushered the ball through to Paul Robinson. Then Lucas Radebe brought a Serginho run to
a rapid halt with a telling tackle. Serginho again threatened
and after jinking past Gary Kelly and Lee Bowyer he
was brought down but DemetrioAlbertini’s
free-kick flashed across the face of goal with no takers. In the twelfth minute
Paulo Maldini crunched into Alan Smith, but Lee
Bowyer’s free-kick was a poor one and although GennaroGattuso needlessly conceded a corner, it came to
nothing. It was the first of three consecutive corners as United gained in
confidence and when Roque Junior gave away a
free-kick on the left Lee Bowyer’s effort was straight into Dida’s
hands.

Twenty-five minutes had gone and hardly a
direct threat to either goal had occurred, but in the next minute United’s world threatened to cave in and also for Gary
Kelly as Serginho tried to shoot past him and the
referee immediately pointed to the spot. AndriyShevchenko’s penalty smashed against Paul Robinson’s right
hand post and United could breathe again. On the half hour Danny Mills was
adjudged to have pushed over Oliver Bierhoff but
again Paul Robinson dealt admirably with DemetrioAlbertini’s well struck twenty-five yard free-kick. Alan
Smith won a free-kick on the edge of the area but Dida
was able to keep out a well taken Ian Harte
free-kick. The hugely dangerous Serginho brought a
flying save out of Paul Robinson when the ball was heading for the top corner
but United hit back as Mark Viduka won a corner on
the stroke of half-time. Lee Bowyer’s corner from the right was spectacularly
headed home at the near post by Dominic Matteo. It
was a priceless goal and made United’s chances of
progressing much stronger.

Within a minute of the re-start AndriyShevchenko, who was having
a nightmare evening, ballooned his shot from a promising position and then when
he set up Serginho, the Brazilian followed suit.
Oliver Bierhoff nodded down for GennaroGattuso to volley but Paul Robinson again saved the
day with a fine save. Robinson again showed his alertness when he saved a
point-blank header from Oliver Birhoff but was also
thankful to see a deflection from Lucas Radebe of a Serginho cross go wide. Then after sixty-five minutes it
was Robinson again to the rescue as substitute ZvonimirBoban’s perfect cross was headed bullet-like by AndriyShevchenko only for the
keeper to pull off another blinding save.

It was inevitable that Milanwould get an equaliser and when it came it fell
to the player who had caused United the most problems. The exquisite Serginho beat Gary Kelly on the outside before exploding an
angled shot which arrowed into the far corner. Leedsreplied with a header from Mark Viduka which Dida saved comfortably and a free-kick from Olivier Dacourt which sailed harmlessly over. Serginho
once more beat Gary Kelly on the left but this time Paul Robinson positioned
himself well as he tried a low shot just inside the near post. With two minutes
to go Olivier Dacourt found his way into the
referee’s book for a foul on AndriyShevchenko which automatically ruled him out of United’s next European encounter. It turned out to be
against Real Madrid, just a fortnight later as United embarked on another phase
of their glorious escapade to defy the odds, pundits and opposition and get
through another Group of death in facing Real Madrid, Lazio and Anderlecht.

Match Action:

Alan Smith congratulates Dominic Matteo

Dominic Matteo
shows his delight after scoring as Alan Smith and Ian Harte
rush to congratulate him